Jesus Diaries - The Poor Little Rich Church Series

ILLUS: Perhaps one of the best illustrations I can give is to illustrate the faithfulness of God in this matter was something I watched happen at the last church I served.

It was a good church, but a church split over whether or not to build a new foyer and sanctuary (a vision planted by my predecessor in the pulpit). Two thirds of the congregation were fixed upon building, but a third were violently opposed - almost to the point of splitting the church over the issue. Their opposition was based upon the fact that the congregation would need to go several hundred dollars into debt for a project they weren’t sure a country church could afford.

They did however, have $100,000 in their building fund - an accumulation of offerings over the past several years for this project. Looking the situation over, I spoke to the Elder most convinced of their need to build, a man named Cy and pointed out that - to avoid any more tension over the issue - perhaps we should build the foyer (which we really needed, and which would cost approximately $100,000) and leave the new sanctuary (which we didn’t need at that point, and might never need if the church split) for another day. After much thought, he agreed. We presented the idea to the Board and they felt it was important to pledge to spend no more on the project than they had at hand. That seemed to be the solution to the tension they’d had for some time and so they voted to proceed with the project. So on in the Spring when America went to war with Iraq in Desert Storm… we broke ground.

Everything went well to start with. The ground was prepared, the foundation laid and the structure began to take shape… then the government paid us a visit. They tested our ground and found that it didn’t "perk." I didn’t know what that meant initially, but later found out that ground that "perks" has dirt that readily absorbs ground water. But ours didn’t perk. What that meant was: the $5000 dollar septic system we had intended to install was no longer an option. Now we had to put in a $20,000 contraption that would deal with waste water. That little change put the our budget $10,000 in the hole.

Our board was not happy. They had vowed not to spend any more than they had on hand. Now, with the project well under way, they had a serious shortfall. These were men of their word and they were upset about having to break their word and borrow money.

Then it occurred to me that I might have a solution to their quandary. I told them I had heard of another church who had held a "Miracle Sunday." They announced several weeks ahead of time what the church needed and urged the congregation to pray and set aside a special gift for that Sunday with the anticipation that God would supply their needs. Everyone thought that would be a great idea, and would I see to advertising it and making it happen? So I did.

However, I have a spiritual problem. I often set things in motion and then get distracted by other things. That’s what happened this time. I faithfully set the advertising for "Miracle Sunday" in motion, but then I attended a prayer conference in Indianapolis. It was a wonderful conference, and I learned more about prayer than I had ever thought possible. It changed how I prayed, and the intensity and urgency of my prayer life. In fact, I liked the man’s sermons so much… I stole them and began preaching them at our congregation.